On April 28th this year, Patsy and I made an exploratory loop between the
Morris and Forbes Ranch roads on the east side of the Desert Divide. We
started by the Joe Scherman GSA (Girl Scouts of America) camp on Morris
Ranch Road, crossed their property heading NW to pick up a trail that led
to the Forbes Ranch Road. We headed up to Forbes Saddle on the Desert
Divide and headed south along the Divide, bagging Pyramid, Pine Mountain
and Lion Peaks along the way before dropping back down to the car on Morris
Ranch Road through some more private property.

On the "summit" of Pine Mountain you can see that you really aren't on the
summit at all. Pine Mountain is topped by an impressive granite monolith
that stands about 60 feet tall. It looks inaccessible, although it also
looks like there might be a cairn on the top. In April we didn't venture
over to the monolith to take a closer look, but now we decided to see if we
could climb it.

Thus, Sunday morning saw Shawn Jin, Patsy and I arrived at the Morris Ranch
Road trailhead. This time we came prepared with a climbing rope, harnesses
and shoes, along with a small rack of hardware. The Morris Ranch Road
offers the fastest access to the Desert Divide, only about an hour to reach
the saddle. We headed south and soon caught sight of the monolith on Pine
Mountain.

The hardest part of the hike is the section from the trail to Pine
Mountain. From the obvious saddle between the trail and the peak a
well-ducked trail leads around the SW side of the mountain. Make sure you
find this trail! We reached the false summit of Pine Mountain at
noon. The Sierra Club calls this Pine Mountain #2 and opines that, "It is
not necessary to climb the large, plinth-shaped rock at the south end of
the summit ridge."

We ate lunch before heading over to the monolith. Encrusted on the closest
face was black lichen and it looked impregnable, something out of "2001 A
Space Odyssey". Multi-dimensional and inaccessible. We believed that
there might be a way to climb this face; it even looked like someone else
had tried to. It also looked desperate and so we walked around looking for
another approach. The SE, lichen-free, prow offered the way. We roped up
and I led off. Easy moves led to a step across a chasm and then up and
traverse right beneath a vertical step (good pro). Climbing up and back to
the left led to the exposed, yet easy, prow itself. I would rate the
climbing about 5.3. I was soon on the broad summit. There *was* a
cairn! There were also two bolts for the rappel. Excellent! Who put
these bolts there? There was no register on the top.

As we rapped off the black lichen crumbled beneath our feet like ball
bearings. I'm so glad I didn't have to try climbing the first route that
we looked at.

We headed back, taking a detour along the way to check out Cedar Spring
campground. There was a decent flow of water so this is likely a reliable
water source. There were also two very large campfire rings and adequate
camping space for a couple of dozen hikers.

This exploratory climb turned out to be an enjoyable Sunday romp. We had
no idea whether we were carrying the rope in vain. Maybe it would be too
easy and a rope unnecessary, or perhaps it would be too hard. We were
lucky and it was just good fun.

Richard replies to a questioner:

> Where is Pine Mtn?

33.38'55"N 116.33'37"W

It's on the "Desert Divide" a spur ridge which runs S off the San Jacinto Massif.